St. Lucia

Hey, team America. Jack and I just returned from a weekend in St. Lucia, and it was AWESOME. The tiny beach town is about four hours from Swaziland. I think it was the prettiest beach I've ever seen. And we could swim normally, not in weird sections like in Durban. No sharks ate us. Good deal. In winter, they have whale tours. We might have to hit it up again for one of those.

We initially stayed in a place called Bibs Backpackers, which was absolutely terrible. Never, ever stay there. Please. It's not worth it. They turn the water off at night, so you can't even flush the toilet. I mean, come on. What is that? So then we went to a place called Parker's Cottages instead, and it was lovely. The family who ran it was nice and extremely helpful. Nothing but good things to say about that spot. I'll try to post photos from both so you can see the contrast.

We visited a beach (Cape Vidal) that was inside a nature preserve/game park. It was absolutely gorgeous. Jack saw his first wild pigs. Then we went on a hippo and croc boat tour and saw tons of hippos (tinvubu in SiSwati). From there, we hit up a night game drive and saw zebras, a bunch of different kinds of bucks and a LEOPARD. First leopard sighting. Score!

Here are some photos!

 Night leopard! Our guide, Skip, said he called this one Alley Cat. She was walking along the road and then posed like this for us for a minute or so. Awesome.

 Beach monkey! There were lots of these guys near the Jabula Beach we stopped at once we hit town.

 HIPPO FACE!

 Craft shop! A lot of what you see here is the same as what you can find in Swaziland. We're still on the hunt for truly authentic Swazi crafts. Still, it's colorful and lovely.

 More hippos! We even saw a baby one, but its head barely popped up next to the mother's. You could tell it was adorable.

 Us on the hippo and croc boat! We saw the tail of a crocodile but no full ones.

 Zebras! These were near the road on our drive to Cape Vidal beach. I think the game park was Simangeliso? Not sure.

Beach! This is the first one we went to, and it was nearly empty. It was so gorgeous. I think Mama T would love her some St. Lucia. Perhaps we'll make it out there again.

EmaProjects

Sanibonani!

We just had some PC training for project design and management ("ema" is a siSwati prefix denoting a plural, so Swazis sometimes throw it in front of English words -- emaProjects). My counterpart and I attended together to try to make a plan for what I'll be doing for the next year and half. We had some success, but it sounds like the project we focused on might not be what we had in mind. So ... back to the drawing board.

PC is interesting in ever so many ways. They tell you when you're applying that you must be flexible. They also tell you that you must be self-motivated and able to do self-directed work. They aren't kidding. There are tons of people in my community who want to improve people's health. The challenge is figuring out the top concerns and how to address them. But the real key is to make sure that the community is 100 percent invested in the project. I can't come in and say, "I want to help women in this community get better access to family planning by doing X, Y and Z that I learned in public health school in America." OK, I could, but I wouldn't get very far. My job is to help members of the community find ways to meet their own goals.

This, it turns out, is easier said than done.

But don't despair! My counterpart is lovely and motivated, and she and I already have had a good brainstorming session with plans to create a club for orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). And my amazing tutor, who teaches at the high school, also has a ton of ideas for us to start working on with her students. Additionally, I have a couple of clubs planned with the career guidance office at the high school.

I'm also joining a PEPFAR conference this week in hopes of meeting people from some organizations that do family planning work. We'll see if I can't get a little bit of master's-related experience.

So rest assured, I'll figure out how to keep busy and stay out of trouble. I've also heard that you don't really get working until you've been serving a year. So by my calculation, I've got, like, four more months to figure it out before the hard stuff starts. Right?

Oh, and I think I told you I've been working as part of a three-person team on our newsletter. If you're ever reeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaally bored and want to check it out, you should be able to find it here.

Oh, and speaking of my master's, I'll be "graduating" from JHSPH on May 23. Pour one out for me on that day, bangani! (Bangani = friends.)

Keep fighting the good fight!

Salani kahle.

Moooooore photos

 This is a shot from a hike Jack and I took in Pigg's Peak, which is in the northern part of Swaziland. It wasn't a great hike, but there were a few nice views.

 Stove-making lesson at the Peace Corps office. You build the stove around the cooking pot, leaving space below for wood and room for ventilation. It also has an opening on the side to put in fuel.

 This is the beach at Durban. Not bad. Typical beach stuff!

BULL FIGHT. The white one eventually won this turf battle in the krall. My host brother is observing from the corner. This got intense, actually, and we were afraid they were going to run through the fence. Exciting times on the homestead.

Photos! (Take two)

 Sanibonani, y'all. I spent E25 and 30 minutes trying to upload these photos last week, and the post somehow didn't save. Not cool, Internet cafe. Not cool.

So here we go again.

This photo is of cows leaving the dip tank, where they go each week to get dipped with chemicals for fleas and ticks. The cows have to swim through it, which they do NOT love. 

 This kiddo was loving my sunglasses. Walker and I were at their homestead to make cookstoves that use less wood than open fires.

 The same homestead. This kid is swinging on a mosquito net swing. Malaria isn't a big problem here, so people use mosquito nets for all kinds of things.

 Durban penguin! This guy was eating the plastic lining on the tank. Probably not great.

 Cows in the dip tank!

 My host babe with his cows in the krall.

 SHARK FACE!

Awesome worm things at the Durban aquarium. I loved these little guys.